She Had Some Horses

Joy Harjo

Background Info

• Joy Harjo was born in 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Native American ancestry.

• Harjo’s Muskagee Creek heritage, feminist and social concerns, and also her background has influenced her to write poetry.

• Her first volume of poetry was published in 1975 as a nine-poem it was titled “The Last Song”

Genre and Form

• Harjo’s poem “She Had Some Horses” was published in 1983.

• This poem uses “horses” as a symbol of herself who has struggled to reconcile contradictory personal feelings and experience achieving a sense of oneness.

The Language of Poem

2A.) The poem language contributes to its meaning because when continues to say she had horses and then described how they felt and looked, it gave us a clearer vision of what she was talking about. The way Harjo described the horses let us know she was referring to herself as a woman.

Poem Organization

2B.) The poem is organized by the pattern of the words, the speaker kept repeating herself to make sure you get what she is trying to say. Although the message wasn’t exactly clear the speaker did give a visual context to what she was explaining.

Patterns and Rhythm

2C.) Patterns of rhyme contribute throughout the whole poem. Throughout the entire poem the speaker repeats “she had horses” which keep the theme going reminding the reader about the initial woman she was speaking about.

Dramatic Context

3A.) The dramatic context of the poem changes in each stanza but mostly it is that the speaker searches for someone to save her from the anger, fear, and oppression that entraps her.

Speaker’s Tone and Motivation

3B.) The speaker’s tone is dominant. Her motivation was that as an oppressed minority that has been victimized and nearly destroyed. From this poem you can tell that Harjo is concerned with personal, cultural, and spiritual survival and her way of surviving is through storytelling.

Theme

3C.) The theme of the poem is to give voiceless women the opportunity to tell their story and show her significance and worth. We knew that this was the theme because of the myth and symbols that the speaker uses.

Poem Summary

• Who is talking?

• To whom is the speaker talking?

• What happens during the poem?

• The speaker is possibly the writer Joy Harjo.

• The speaker is talking to everyone.

• During the poem the speaker explains the beauty of women. She talks about how happy women are and also how sad and depressed they can be. The speaker talks about these events as if she is a participant.

Initial Response

Our initial response was that we noticed the poem is very powerful and by reading it we think that the speaker was trying to send out a message to all people that women should be acknowledged because they do have a voice. We also noticed that the speaker used horses to represent a woman because it gives the message a more spiritual sense.

She is a QueenShe is a Queen She’s a Queen who’s every thought is worshippedShe’s a Queen who’s smile shines like the sunShe’s a Queen who mother’s the worldShe’s a Queen who’s blood is pureShe’s a Queen who is overpowered with beautyShe is QueenShe’s a Queen with the power to punishShe’s a Queen with the love to healShe’s a Queen with feet to praiseShe’s a Queen with hands to mold and nurtureShe is a QueenShe’s a Queen overwhelmed with dutyShe’s a Queen with misunderstood words who’s voice is truly unheardShe’s a Queen who’s past life speaks for itselfShe’s a Queen who’s love grows comfortable in the curves of another’s armsShe is a Queen

Improvement

Our new poem improves the message of the original poem because we accentuated the message so that the reader may identify it right away.

The poem originally had a hidden theme meaning that the speaker didn’t make the message completely visible.

FIN